PyPy meets Python 3 and Numpy

PyPy is an alternative Python implementation whose JIT often gives seriously better performance than CPython. Now PyPy supports, in beta version, two major new application domains: Python 3.x, and Numpy and the rest of the scientific stack. These are each an important milestone for a subset of the Python community.

Thanks to a grant by Mozilla, “PyPy3” now largely supports Python 3.5 with one or two extensions from Python 3.6. Full support should be very close. (Note that PyPy2 will not disappear, if only because PyPy itself is written in Python 2.7.)

Numpy and the major packages of the scientific stack are now starting to work well with PyPy (PyPy2 mostly, but also PyPy3). This is thanks to progress in “cpyext” emulating the CPython C API, as well as fixes to the packages in collaboration with the upstream developers.

We will also mention some more “what’s new in PyPy” topics from the last couple of years.